This Morning (TV programme)

This Morning is a British daytime magazine programme that is broadcast on ITV. It debuted on 3 October 1988 and is broadcast live every weekday from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm across the United Kingdom, and in Ireland by Virgin Media One. The programme features a variety of news, showbiz, fashion, health and beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, technology, live phone-ins, and competitions.

The show was originally presented by husband and wife duo Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan for more than a decade after its launch. It is currently presented by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley from Monday to Thursday with Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond presenting on Fridays.

The daytime programme has aired on ITV for over 35 years, making it one of the longest-running daytime programmes on British television. It won the National Television Award for Best Daytime/Live Magazine Show for 12 years running, from 2011 to 2022.

In 1988, ITV decided to create a live daytime morning programme and five regional ITV companies made pilot shows to bid for the national contract:

The first episode of This Morning aired at 10:40 am on 3 October 1988 and finished at 12:10 pm, live from the Granada studio inside the Albert Dock in Liverpool. An industry insider believed the idea would not work and would be pulled by Christmas 1988, but despite This Morning being launched with no publicity, its ratings quickly rose to a daily average of two million viewers.

In the first few series, the show's "experts" were weatherman Fred Talbot, agony aunt Denise Robertson, medic Dr Chris Steele, cook Susan Brookes, beauty presenter Liz Earle, hair and make-up artists Andrew and Liz Collinge, and wine expert Charles Metcalfe. The theme tune was by David Pringle, who also wrote opening music for Wheel of Fortune, Fun House and The Pyramid Game. To end the first series, in 1989, the show was presented via satellite from the United States at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Produced by Granada's Field Producer, Brian Thomas, the set was built directly in front of 'Sleeping Beauty Castle', a first for Disney.

As part of the show, Talbot used a floating map of the British Isles to report the forecast. A clip of Mark Roberts, a prolific streaker, running onto Talbot's weather map in 1995 is regularly featured on clip shows.

In 1996, the show was moved to the London Studios on the grounds that it was difficult to get celebrity guests to travel from London to Liverpool.